Chapter 3


"Ezra, what's going on over there?" Hera asked.

Ezra and Sabine were sent out on a supply run and they had orders to remain under radio silence unless the Empire was after them. The Ghost was still under repairs, but there was only an estimated week left for repairs. They weren't really supposed to be away from Yavin, but they were the best choice for this mission. Everything was going well... until this happened.

"We're aborting mission!" he yelled, panic in his voice. He was shouting through the comms from his command chair of the CR90 corvette.

"Why? What's going on?" Hera asked again.

Suddenly, communications were knocked out and Hera turned to the comms officer.

"Get him back," she ordered

"I'm trying!" he said.


Ezra looked up and saw a huge purple starship looming ahead of them. It just appeared out of nowhere again, but thankfully a lot farther from them than their first encounter. It had been nearly a month since that time.

"Ezra! What's going on?" Sabine said, running into the bridge. She gasped when she saw the Covenant warship ahead of them, full broadside.

"Ezra, get us out of here now!" she said.

"The carrier is blocking our path!" he replied.

Sabine paled slightly, their first encounter flashing before her very eyes. "Ezra… choose a different hyperspace route if you have to!"

"Helm, get us out of here!" he yelled.

"I can't! I've lost helm control!"

"Comms send a distress beacon to Infinity!" Ezra ordered.

"Beacon deployed."

Suddenly, the helmsman called out, "Sir, I have helm control! Shields have been restored!"

"Turn us around! We have to leave NOW!" Ezra said.

Suddenly, there were some flashes seen and shudders felt all throughout the corvette.

"Sir, our shields have dropped to 25%! Whatever that was we can't take another hit like that!" the engineer said from his station.

"Nav, do we have an opening?" Sabine asked.

"Almost there, Commander! Just a few more…" he didn't get to finish. There were more shudders, and a lot more flashes and his console exploded.

"Sir, we have lost engine power!" the helmsman reported. "Navigation is gone! We're not going anywhere!"

There was a sound of the hull being penetrated, metal being twisted. A boarding ship was breaking open the airlock.

"All hands to combat stations!" Ezra ordered. The CR90 had no hiding places so they had no choice but to fight. He pushed a button on his seat's comm section and began talking.

"Infinity this is Commander Bridger; we are under attack by Covenant forces! We have lost all engine power and we can't hide. They are boarding us right now!"


"Captain!" the comms officer screamed.

"What is it?" Lasky asked.

"You're going to have to listen to this!" the officer said as he transferred the transmission to the entire ship.

"Infinity this is Commander Bridger; we are under attack by Covenant forces! We have lost all engine power and we can't hide. They are boarding us right now!"

"Nav!" Lasky said.

"I've got a distress beacon! Initiating Slipspace!" the Nav officer said.

Lasky pressed a button on his console, "All hands battle stations. We're going in!"

Almost immediately his console lit up with the replies of every station.

"All stations report ready, Captain," the XO reported.

"Slipspace in 3… 2… 1…" the Nav officer counted down to the entire ship. A slipspace rupture appeared in front of the Infinity and they entered the blue.


"Commander! We can't kill the big guys! They're too strong!" a security officer called through the comms.

"I'm on my way!" Ezra said, but he was stopped by Sabine.

"Ezra don't!" she pleaded. "You'll die!"

"Sabine, those are our men fighting them. I can't just leave them!" he said.

"Tell them to fall back. Keep them away from the bridge!" she replied.

"Sabine, I won't just stand here and do nothing about it!" Ezra shouted.

"You promised me! Ezra PLEASE!" Sabine pleaded. "I… I…"

Ezra's expression softened, but his mind was set. "I'm sorry, Sabine."

He wrestled out of Sabine's grip and ran out of the cockpit, his lightsaber in hand.

Sabine stood there for a few brief moments then sighed, "Then I'm not letting you fight them alone!"


The Covenant Elite soldier shot another human and continued down the hallway. Every shot he received took down a good portion of his shields, but that didn't bother him. Yes, they were an almost equally advanced species of human, but they didn't have any personal defenses.

The Elite stopped walking when he saw a human wearing all orange step around the corner, holding something in his hands. He fired a few shots at the boy and saw a flash of green absorb his shots.

"Interesting. So they do have energy swords here," the Elite said, amused. He slung his carbine over his shoulder and pulled out his own energy sword.

Ezra stood in one place, seeing the huge creature pull out the most interesting lightsaber he's ever seen. The huge creature jumped to Ezra and attempted to stab him, but he sidestepped and cut down the Covenant invader. He stepped back, amazed at how easy it was to strike it down.

All the surviving defenders had a major moral boost when they saw what had happened. They held their ground when a bunch of smaller Covenant troops charged them… Or more like run around with their hands in the air. Those little guys were easier to take down.

Sabine turned the corner to see the dead Covenant invader at Ezra's feet as he continued deflecting or absorbing the invader's shots. She, too, began firing at them and took out a few smaller guys.

Pretty soon, they couldn't see why the UNSC warned them to stay away until they saw a whole mess of the bigger guys.

One of them charged Ezra, trying the same thing the first Elite did, but resulted the same way. The third Elite slashed at Ezra this time, forcing him to parry the blade.

'At least my lightsaber can block theirs' he thought to himself. These guys were not only massive in size, but were also as strong as they looked. He was literally being pushed back with every blow.

Ezra tried his best to defend, but the Covenant invader threw him into a wall and would've impaled him if it wasn't for Sabine. She kept firing at the Covenant invader and his shields ran out of power. Before he could react to his downed shield, he took a blaster bolt to the face, killing him instantly. The rest of the Elites stopped their advance long enough for Sabine to recover her dazed friend.

"Ezra, stay with me!" she said, gently slapping his face. He was struggling to stay awake.

"I probably should have listened…" he said quietly. They could hear more of their soldiers being cut down by the slowly advancing Covenant forces.

"We should abandon the ship while we can… Get you to a doctor…" Sabine said.

"Sabine, don't worry… Just… get… out of… here…" he passed out at the last word. Sabine began to panic.

"Ezra… Ezra, stay with me!" she said. A Covenant Elite turned the corner and walked in Sabine's direction. She started firing at him, keeping him back while she dragged Ezra to an escape pod.

By the time she got him strapped in, he was awake again.

"Sabine…" he started, but was interrupted by a quick kiss.

"Shut up Ezra, I'm getting us out of here," she said.

But before she could close the door, somebody pulled her out of the pod. Sabine smashed the door controls and the door closed. Seconds later, the pod was ejected out of its bay. Ezra began struggling against the straps, but in his dazed state, he couldn't do much. Instead, he just passed out again.

Sabine struggled against the Covenant's grip, trying to break free. She saw the Covenant invader move to impale her with his sword, but his arm was caught by another Elite.

"Don't. She might be able to tell us where we are! Haven't you thought of that BEFORE killing everybody here?" the Elite said, speaking perfect English, much to Sabine's surprise.

The Covenant holding Sabine growled in return, "We can search their computers! There's no point in keeping these vermin alive!"

"We should keep her alive for now. Once we learn everything we need to know, then we will dispose of her," the second Elite said.

"Fine!" the first said, dropping Sabine, who began coughing.

"Sorry about that… My friend doesn't know when to stop killing," the Elite said, kneeling down to Sabine.

She stared at him, terrified. "Y-you… s-s-speak…"

The Elite nodded, "I do at least. Not all of us."

Sabine tried to back away, but she was grabbed again and lifted onto his shoulders. She passed out from fear then, not knowing what they would do to her.


Ezra watched in horror as his ship was blown up by the Covenant warship. He saw what he recalled as a Slipspace rupture appear in front of the carrier… but at the same time saw a second one appear. The Infinity exited the second rupture just as the front of the carrier disappeared in the first. Infinity began firing on the assault carrier, but it was too late.

What seemed like an eternity later, Ezra was in the Infinity's medical bay and Lasky was speaking to the lead medic.

"He's stable, but very shaken up, sir," the medic reported. Lasky nodded and walked over to him.

"Ezra…" he began. "I heard about your friend from other survivors we picked up from a few other pods. I'm so sorry."

"Why couldn't you get here sooner!" Ezra snapped.

"I'm sorry, we jumped as soon as we got your signal. Slipspace isn't an instantaneous form of space travel," Lasky said. "Chances are, if they took your friend alive, they need her for something. Likely to find out where they are and what everything is like here."

"We have to save her!" Ezra yelled.

"I understand that, but we can't assault a ship like that without being detected!" Lasky said.

"I've done it before!" Ezra shot back.

"Maybe to the Empire, but this is not the empire you're thinking of!" Lasky said. He then changed his tone. "However I do understand you managed to kill a few Elites. If you hadn't held them off, you wouldn't have seen us come in."

"Elites? You mean those…" Ezra started.

"Yes, those big guys. It's never been easy for normal people like you and me to take them out. The Grunts however, those smaller guys, have always been a lot easier," Lasky said.

"What's the easiest way to kill an Elite?" Ezra asked.

"Explosives, but if there's not enough of those at hand, then a Spartan is your best bet. That or a highly trained ODST," Lasky answered.

"Where are the ODSTs? I haven't seen any of them since I was brought aboard," Ezra asked.

"We sent them to the nearest Imperial planet with the least amount of security that we could find. They're watching to see what the Empire does that your holonet doesn't show us," Lasky answered. It was supposed to be classified, but he knew Ezra wasn't going to take no as an answer. "We'd still like to get in contact with them, if they don't try to kill us first."

"That's not a good idea..." Ezra said.

"I'm afraid there's no other choice. We need to speak with government leaders anyway."

"I suppose you're right," Ezra said after a few moments. He didn't like to admit it, but the Empire was better suited to help the UNSC.

Lasky reluctantly changed the subject back to Sabine, "You really care for your friend, don't you?"

Ezra choked up a bit, but Laskey took that as a yes.

"The Covenant never only operates in space. Chances are, they'll find a suitable planet and establish a temporary base there. If anything they'll also keep Sabine there, allowing ODST and Spartan troops to go in," Lasky said, remembering the tactics and protocols they've learned from their Covenant allies.

"Something you should know," he continued. This particular ship is a remnant of the old Covenant Empire. This isn't their primary government. Nevertheless they still wouldn't operate without some sort of base of operations."

Ezra still didn't move, but quietly asked one thing, "If you do find her… Will you let me fight with you?"

"It will be dangerous, but if your people are ok with it, I will let you fight with us."

"Thank you," Ezra said. He still didn't move, but he was assured his part in saving Sabine.


Sabine opened her eyes only to find herself in an unfamiliar place, but she understood where she was.

A door opened and an Elite walked in.

"Sabine… Wren, am I right?" he asked.

"Who's asking?" she asked defiantly.

"Look, I understand how you are scared, and we are transferring you to a planet where we have established a base. We only want to know where we are and how we can get back to our home," the Elite said.

"So you decide to destroy an entire ship full of people instead of asking for help?" she spat.

"You're alive for only one reason, and that's to give us information we need. Do not waste that privilege," the Elite said.

Sabine recognized this one as the same one who almost killed her. She tried to act as brave as possible, but her fear still shown in her eyes.

"So ask me here and let me go!" she said.

"We'll ask you at our base, but we will not let you leave alive," the Elite replied.

Sabine's fear only tripled then, but she still didn't let it show "Why do you want to kill me so bad?"

"You are human, and we are against humanity," the Elite said.

That moment, she knew she wouldn't likely get out of this alive.

"Fighting is futile. Stalling is equally futile," the Elite said. "Lie to us, and you will die."

"I'm as good as dead right now anyway," Sabine said, sadly. She looked down and the Elite left her alone in her cell. As soon as he left, Sabine let tears fall from her eyes. She thought of Ezra and her family, both adopted and biological. She mostly thought of Ezra and silently pleaded for him to save her.

"Ezra… where are you when I need you?" she murmured, unknown to her that her cell is being monitored by the very Elite that saved her life for the time being.

However, this particular Elite was different than the others. He wasn't fighting with these Covenant because he believed in their cause, but because he was monitoring them.


"No! Absolutely not!" Hera exclaimed. She was honored to have the Captain of the UNSC Infinity standing on Yavin ground, but was infuriated to hear that Ezra wanted to be a part of Sabine's rescue mission.

"Hera, I will not stand by and let these men die for one of our own!" Ezra snapped. Under normal circumstances, he would've been demoted on the spot, but these were not normal circumstances by 2 hundred parsecs.

"I know how you feel, but you've seen what this Covenant is capable of!" Hera turned to Lasky then. "I won't let you take him with you."

"Hera!" Ezra yelled.

"Ezra, I forbid you from fighting the Covenant with these men! It's not that I don't trust them, it's that I don't want to lose another important person in this rebellion!" Hera said.

"I WILL NOT LEAVE SABINE TO DIE!" Ezra yelled. "I REFUSE TO SIT IDLY BY WHILE THEY KILL ONE OF OUR OWN!"

"Ezra Bridger! You are relieved of duty as Commander of the Rebellion!" Hera said.

Ezra froze, all his anger melting at the sound of what he believed as abandoning Sabine to die.

"General," Lasky began.

"Lasky, I know what you are going to say, and it's in favor of Ezra. My orders stand clear; Ezra will not partake in this mission," Hera said. "We're not ready to fight this enemy."

"Ezra has a point, Hera," Zeb said. "Why should these men die for one of our own without us fighting with them?"

"Zeb, don't you dare…" Hera began.

"Oh I do dare," Zeb growled. "Doing this makes you no better than the Empire."

"Relieving Ezra of duty as a Commander isn't throwing me lower than the Empire," Hera said.

"No," Lasky began. "But demoting and preventing him from trying to do what he believes is the right thing to do is still not right."

Hera stared at him in disbelief.

"This might not be something you believe in here, but back home, my Marines never leave a soldier behind. Dead or alive. If Ezra wants to do this, let him. If he dies, you only prove yourself right, but think of when he lives. You're supposed to be fighting for those who can't, and right now Sabine can't fight and you're just abandoning her to die, just like what Ezra said! Your orders contradict what you believe in! They contradict the very thing you are fighting for!"

"You said when," Hera said, completely surprised at the Captain's outburst.

"I did and I mean it. I'm not sending him alone, or with only normal Marines. He will be fighting with ODSTs and Spartans. The best of the best," Lasky said. "Ezra even killed a couple Elites. That's not an easy thing to do for us unless a Spartan is involved."

"I still won't do it…" Hera said, but she knew she was losing this fight.

Ezra spoke up, his voice low, "There's nothing you can do to stop me, Hera. I'm sorry, but if the Rebellion refuses to rescue one of their own and leave them for dead, then I'll have no part in it. I'd sooner join the Empire than be ordered by Rebel leadership to leave somebody I love to die."

Everybody stared at Ezra, completely taken off guard at his words.

"Ezra, you don't…" Hera began, but Ezra interrupted her.

"Don't say I don't mean it when I do!"

Everybody was at a loss for words. They knew Ezra was willing to do anything he could to save Sabine. Anything. Even turn his back on the very thing that was like family to him.

"This discussion… is over…" Hera said reluctantly.

Slowly, every single person left the room. Lasky and his Marines returned to Infinity with Ezra, Zeb left to his room, all the other Rebel personnel left to continue their duties… but Hera stood, alone, in the command room; Completely torn at what just happened.


Sabine felt something big had just went down. She didn't have to be Force sensitive to feel the tension, even from halfway across the galaxy. But she couldn't worry about it; She was about to be transferred to a Covenant base for questioning, and after that… execution. Apparently her crime against the Covenant was just being human, or at least according to the Elite.

She sat in her cell, alone. She didn't want to die. Not yet, and not in that way. Execution is not an honorable way to die for a Mandalorian. She was alone, except for this one Elite who was kind enough to give her a real meal… sort of… and actually keep her company, though most of the time she didn't want to talk.

She just wanted to see her friends again. Her family. And most of all, she wanted to see Ezra again. She never told him she loved him, even when they were being separated.

"Hey…" the Elite said through the energy barrier.

Sabine remained silent.

"I looked through your holonet, it took a while, but I was able to make something that you should be familiar with." He set a tray down in the cell with Mandalorian food in it. The Covenant food replicators (No idea if they really have those or what they're called) actually allowed something like this to be made.

Sabine was still silent, and she didn't make a move for the food. The Elite frowned… or whatever they count as frowning.

"Please, eat something at least," he said.

"What's the point? Feed me just to kill me later? I'd rather not," she said bitterly.

The Elite pressed a button and the cell microphones were muted.

"Listen, I don't want to see you die. I'd much rather talk peacefully instead of keeping you here, but that would blow my cover," he said. That just about got Sabine's attention.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, the same bitter tone.

"I'm not actually with this group of Covenant. I'm undercover for my true allegiance. I've been attempting to establish a secret communication link to the UNSC and to your Rebel friends," he explained carefully, making sure nobody can hear him.

Sabine was silent, but she stood up and took the tray of food. Back in the control center, the guards were surprised to see Sabine take the tray of food, but they were trying to get their mics active again.

The Elite pressed a button and the mics were active again.

"Now eat up… we still have some ways to go before we arrive," he said, making sure Sabine knew he had reactivated the mics again.

Sabine slowly took a bite of food… and closed her eyes. It wasn't the best, but it was still good.


Ezra was sitting in the mess hall of Infinity when Lasky walked up with a tray of food.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked.

"Please do," Ezra replied.

He sat down and began talking.

"I ordered the away team to return to Infinity, and it was perfect timing. The Imperials were beginning to investigate their presence," he said. "We'll start searching for the Covenant base as soon as they arrive."

Ezra sat up a bit. "Thank you for standing up with me."

"It's not a problem. I wouldn't feel right if we kept you from this. Granted I'd rather keep you safe."

Ezra groaned, but Lasky quickly added something, "You feel this is the right choice, so I won't stop you."

"Thanks Captain," Ezra said.

"Please, call me Tom or Thomas."

"Alright… Thomas," Ezra said, testing the waters.

Just as Thomas and Ezra finished their lunch, Thomas was requested to the bridge.

When he arrived he was notified that their away team has come home.

"Sir, our away team has arrived," the ensign reported.

"Very good. Tell the squad leaders to report here now," he said.

"Yes sir," the ensign said.

Lasky turned to the front and stared out to the stars.

"This is going to be a while… hang in there, Wren," he said.

Ezra was back in his assigned quarters, deep in thought. He was thinking about Sabine.

"Hang in there, Sabine. We're coming," he said quietly. "I'm coming."


I'm sorry if everything is inaccurate or incomplete. This was a prewritten chapter and I have up to 5 chapters done, so rewriting this would force me to rewrite the entire story, which is something I don't have much time to do. I will fix whatever I can.

Also, Happy New Year (2018)